Beverage Brewing Material Support
Patent No. US11369226 (titled "Beverage Brewing Material Support") was filed by Rivera Adrian on Dec 19, 2017.
What is this patent about?
’226 is related to the field of beverage brewing, specifically addressing the need for convenient and customizable single-serving beverage preparation. Traditional pod-based brewing systems limit users to pre-packaged options, lacking freshness and variety. This patent aims to provide a solution that allows consumers to create their own beverage pods or use a support element with their preferred brewing material.
The underlying idea behind ’226 is to provide a collapsible, water-permeable container that can hold loose brewing material, such as coffee grounds or tea leaves. This container is designed to be easily formed from a flat, foldable material into a receptacle with a rim for placement in a brewing machine. The container also includes a cover hingedly attached to the rim.
The claims of ’226 focus on a method of manufacturing a support element for beverage brewing material, comprising providing water-permeable material, forming a holder and a holder cover from the water-permeable material, shaping the holder into a generally concave shape such that the holder is configured to receive and support the beverage brewing material, and forming an outward-extending rim around an upper periphery of the concave shape of the holder, wherein the generally concave shape has a generally flat bottom, and a sidewall extended upward from a periphery of the bottom and having an upper edge defining the upper periphery, and wherein the holder cover is hingedly attached to the rim.
In practice, the user would start with a flat, pre-cut piece of filter paper with defined fold lines. By folding along these lines, the paper transforms into a frustoconical cup with a circular rim. The user then places their desired brewing material inside the cup, and flips the cover over to cover the upper opening of the holder. The entire assembly is then placed into a compatible brewing machine, where hot water is passed through the material to create the beverage.
This design differentiates itself from traditional pre-packaged pods by allowing users to select their own brewing material and control the freshness and blend. The foldable design also allows for compact storage and shipping of the empty containers. The hinged cover facilitates alignment and sealing of the pod and which requires substantially less user adjustment and manipulation as compared to conventional pod-package material.
How does this patent fit in bigger picture?
Technical landscape at the time
In the mid-2000s when ’226 was filed, beverage brewing systems commonly relied on pre-packaged pods, at a time when individual consumers had limited control over the brewing material used, and when hardware or software constraints made it non-trivial to create custom pods for personal use.
Novelty and Inventive Step
Claims were rejected during prosecution. Specifically, claims 1-5, 7, 9-11, 13-16, 21 and 23-30 were rejected for double patenting and obviousness. Some claims were indicated as allowable if rewritten in independent form. The application later proceeded to allowance.
Claims
This patent contains 21 claims, of which claims 1, 10, and 18 are independent. The independent claims are directed to a method of manufacturing a support element for beverage brewing material, a method for forming a support element for beverage brewing material, and an empty container, respectively. The dependent claims generally elaborate on the features and steps of the independent claims.
Key Claim Terms New
Definitions of key terms used in the patent claims.
Patent Family
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Date
Description
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US11369226
- Application Number
- US15847889
- Filing Date
- Dec 19, 2017
- Status
- Granted
- Expiry Date
- Mar 28, 2026
- External Links
- Slate, USPTO, Google Patents